You don’t make it to 72 without developing a sense of nostalgia. As the 72nd Cannes Film Festival prepares to kick off the in the small seaside city in the south of France, there’s a sense of a high-school reunion among the attendees.

That goes for the critics as well as the filmmakers. Come back enough times (this is my 12th) and you’ll notice the same multi-million-dollar yachts parked in the harbour – hello, Auspicious, my old friend – and the same bloggers frantically pin-balling from screening to screening (or party to party). Not to mention the same panini vendors on the beachside Croisette, and the same guards at the sprawling Palais des Festivals, with their same adorable quirks: “No, sir, you may not bring zat panini into the screening with you!”

Opening the festival on May 14 is Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die, a zombie comedy with an all-star cast that includes Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Rosie Perez and Danny Glover. Jarmusch is also no stranger to Cannes; his 1984 feature Stranger Than Paradise screened here and took the Camera d’Or prize for best first film.

He has since had seven films in competition for the prestigious Palme d’Or, most recently 2016’s Paterson. None has won, although Paterson did take home the Palme Dog for a scene-stealing performance by an English Bulldog named Nellie.

Joining Jarmusch in the competition lineup is Quentin Tarantino, whose new film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, will premiere on May 21, exactly 25 years to the day since Pulp Fiction, just his second feature first screened before winning the Palme d’Or. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, and is set in 1969 at the end of Hollywood’s Golden Age – more nostalgia.

Tarantino’s first film, Reservoir Dogs, had played Cannes as a special screening. He has had two other films in competition; he headed up the film jury in 2004; and he got to see Pulp Fiction projected on the beach for its 20th anniversary in 2014. (This year’s “cinéma de la plage” screenings includes 1969’s Easy Rider.)

So it’s safe to say that if Cannes takes a liking to you, you’ll be back. Or even if they don’t – Danish director Lars von Trier was booted from the festival after making a bad joke about Nazis in 2011, but by last year all was forgiven, and he was back with The House That Jack Built. Walkouts and general critical approbation followed; “divisive” was the official verdict for this disturbing serial-killer movie.

Another Cannes regular is Quebec director Xavier Dolan, who made his first trip to the Croisette when he was just 21. His newest film, Matthias & Maxime, is his third in competition. In 2014, Mommy tied for the Jury Prize (with Jean-Luc Godard of all people!), while 2016’s It’s Only the End of the World took the Grand Prix, which is Cannes-speak for second place. Dolan was also a jury member in 2015.

Other returning filmmakers include Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (two Palmes d’Or) with Young Ahmed; Ken Loach (also two) with Sorry We Missed You; and Terrence Malick (one win to date) with A Hidden Life. Pedro Almodóvar (Pain and Glory), Bong Joon-ho (Parasite), Arnaud Desplechin (Oh Mercy!), Marco Bellocchio (The Traitor) and others are returning in hopes of their first Palme.

In fact, among the few filmmakers who are making their first run at the Palme d’Or are the four female directors in competition this year – Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire), Justine Triet (Subyl), Jessica Hausner (Little Joe) and Mati Diop (Atlantics). Cannes has had a spotty record of allowing women to compete, and this year’s four-out-of-21 is actually the most they’ve had, tied with 2011.

Sometimes, even the most tenuous Cannes connection is enough to warrant a triumphal return. Sylvester Stallone is not exactly a film-fest regular, but he did co-write and star in Cliffhanger, which had a special screening at the festival in 1993 and is now being turned into a female-led reboot, with foreign sales taking place in Cannes. And there was that time in 2014 when he and his Expendables 3 co-stars rolled down the Croisette in a tank.

He’s back this year promoting Rambo V – Last Blood, which opens in September. On the second-last day of the festival he’ll be attending a special screening of 1982’s First Blood, showing some images from the newest film, taking questions and, according to the festival press release, presiding over “a video montage evoking his huge career.”

Plus he’s 72. He and the festival can blow out their birthday candles together.

Chris Knight will be reporting from the Cannes Film Festival from May 13 to May 25.